


and a wish

by Anonymous



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Babies, M/M, Magic, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 16:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17369474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Leo's hair is blonde, just a few shades duller than gold. Niles's hair is white, but not as clean as snow. And Odin's hair is blonde as well: a bit dirty, a bit curly when it grew out, but it was clear as day. All of them had light hair. Their children should have light hair as well. There should have been nothing to give the magic theideaof brown.Odin looked like he was surprised, too. He swiped a finger over the newborn's locks, and he peered at her eyes with an expression of awe. She wasn't even crying, just cooing and reaching for him, for her siblings."So it is." It wasn't an answer.





	and a wish

**Author's Note:**

> Magic Kids are a perfectly acceptable way of producing an heir and letting people be as gay as they please. The result is a child with hair any shade of or between their parents' colours.
> 
> Normally. Like, assuming the hair colour you appear to have is _actually _your hair colour.__

When the magic settled into the shape of a baby, Leo stared.

"Odin," he said, "Her hair is brown."

The chubby, cooing infant that Odin was holding did indeed have brown hair. For now, anyway. The magic was fickle, but eventually it would settle on features, and when it did the colours would set, and-

And the child's hair was currently _brown_.

Leo's hair is blonde, just a few shades duller than gold. Niles's hair is white, but not as clean as snow. And Odin's hair is blonde as well: a bit dirty, a bit curly when it grew out, but it was clear as day. All of them had light hair. Their children should have light hair as well. There should have been nothing to give the magic the _idea_ of brown.  
  
Odin looked like he was surprised, too. He swiped a finger over the newborn's locks, and he peered at her eyes with an expression of awe. She wasn't even crying, just cooing and reaching for him, for her siblings.

"So it is." It wasn't an answer.

Leo wasn't sure what he was expecting.

* * *

Perhaps starting with Ophelia was neglecting her elder siblings. Leo should have started from the beginning.

It was a delicate spell and not one to be done lightly. Still, when it came to the heirs of a royal family, they were suspicious of outside forces objecting to Xander's sudden ascension to the throne. It could only be Leo because of his magical expertise and the retainers at his disposal. And it  _had_ to be Leo, because he needed to test it first.

(It meant his children were experiments, because the  _future ruler of Nohr_ could never be an experiment. He knew it. They all knew it.)

(It didn't mean they had to like it.)

(It also didn't mean he wouldn't do it.)

It would be horrifying and devastating to lose control and create an abomination instead of a child- an abomination _as_ a child? But he and Odin were magic, so Leo said the words as Odin offered the power. Niles kept a watchful eye out for interruptions, for them pushing themselves too far, (because anyone could be their guard, but only he had watched and listened as they pored over texts) and they couldn't have shaken him had they wanted to. They'd finished the spell. They'd stared in satisfaction at a glowing, shimmering ball of life and endless possibilities.

They'd rehearsed it enough. It was the moment that they could let their guard down and call Niles over. A drop of blood from each of them to guide physical growth. A wish unspoken for a wonderful, blessed future. A word to tell the magic they were finished, and the shimmering ball split and merged, again and again, dulling before depositing a baby-shaped ball of light into Leo's waiting arms.

It was like holding a dream: a glowing ball only vaguely in the shape of an infant that cried and wriggled. Then the skin tone settled, and the ball became a boy, and his hair went from blonde to white and back before seeming to decide on a pale blonde.

One child, Leo reasoned as he cradled his son, hummed, and tried to calm him, was normal. But the dulled magic did not vanish. It pulsed once, then deposited another shifting, squalling baby into Niles's waiting arms.

A girl, this time, a tad sharper than babies should be- all sharp angles where she should have been chubby. Her hair flashed dark, perhaps a trick of the light, then settled white almost immediately. She squirmed and howled, and quieted long enough to grab Niles' hair and give it a sharp  _tug_.

That's that, they'd thought. One baby was normal. Two was a gift. A third was almost unheard of, and yet, the third was the one that Odin caught, because nobody else had arms free and they were loathe to put the children down on the floor. The dulled magic vanished then; it simply lost form and faded away.

And somehow that third was unusual beyond unusual. With options of blonde, and blonde, and white, the magic lingered on brown.

* * *

The magic settled and Ophelia's hair was brown. She should not have had brown hair.

None of them dyed their hair. The roots never showed that to be the case, and besides, they'd become well acquainted with each other over the years. They would have known through observation, or been told. Right?

Forrest’s hair was blonde, like Odin’s and Leo’s; Nina’s was white, like Niles’. It shouldn't have been brown, and yet, it was.

"Perhaps I did something wrong," Leo mused. "Perhaps, being the youngest, she-"

"You didn't," Niles interrupted smoothly. "Everything went according to plan."

But Ophelia's hair was _brown_.

"My hair was darker when I was young," Odin offered, not looking at either. He didn't seem particularly curious, nor particularly alarmed. "She's perfect. Don't worry."

* * *

They put it out of their minds, or tried to. They'd only just won the war and defeated Anankos. With the knowledge that Leo, not some stranger, could cast the spell, it was really quite simple. After they were rested they were at it again: Leo casting, and Odin supporting, and Niles standing guard as Xander and Laslow and Peri waited anxiously for their cues.

(Ophelia and Nina and Forrest were under Camilla's careful watch. No place in the world would be safer for them, and nobody would love them more.)

Three drops of blood. A wish unspoken. A word to complete the magic.

A firstborn son with hair only vaguely tinged cyan: more blonde than anything else, and undeniably Xander's child. He screamed, loudly, inconsolable at least until his sister took form. Then his eyes went wide and unblinking, holding his breath tight.

A secondborn daughter with hair a deep midnight blue, curling to pink at the very tips. She reached out and cooed, tiny, chubby fingers poking and grabbing at her brother. Their tiny hands found each other and clung tight.

Grey was absent from both children. Perhaps Laslow was disappointed. He was certainly staring, running his fingers over his daughter's hair.

(That was what Odin was doing with Ophelia, Leo recalled later.)

"It doesn't mean much," Leo found himself telling Laslow as he kissed his daughter before passing her with some difficulty to Peri. "It happens, even with naturally conceived children." They would grow with some resemblance to their parents, hair colour or not. And they _loved_ each other. That was the most important fact.

Laslow didn't seem to be listening. Only when Odin jabbed him with an elbow did he blink and flash his trademark smile, and brush off all curious questions.

* * *

It happened slowly.

Leo saw his husbands (his retainers) at least every week. Same with Xander, same with Camilla. Having children didn't stop him and them from having royal duties, though it did make the court significantly more understanding when he showed up with his collar inside out and bags under his eyes, or his normally perfect hair mussed.

But Leo didn't see their retainers every week. With parental duties (and babysitting, because Camilla was over the moon having so many infants to coo at), they were busy more often than not.

Soleil was toddling ahead of Siegbert, screeching up a storm. She pulled on Laslow's hair when she got to him, and that made Leo stare, pausing in the middle of praising her determination. He squinted. Frowned. Laslow squirmed, face going slowly pink, and at last Leo shook his head. He didn't mention it and Laslow didn't ask as he launched into the most recent tale of the chaos Siegbert and Soleil seemed to plan, together. They couldn't even talk and yet, he claimed, they moved like they possessed telepathy.

Laslow's expression as he said that line was wistful, but Leo hardly noticed, preoccupied with a possible trick of the light.

Was Laslow's hair always grey with a touch of blue?

* * *

Selena and Camilla wanted a child. The only reason they'd waited so long, Leo thought, was because more than five newborns at the same time would surely have destroyed the castle, their retainers, and themselves.

(Having Selena and Camilla take the triplets when Leo, Odin, and Niles needed a break was a godsend. He'd return the favour, he swore. It wasn't that he would give up a single one of them, just that, sometimes the screaming, and the crying, and _god_ , he wasn't even  _there_ as much as Odin and Niles-)

Two drops of blood. Beruka, standing guard with Niles. A wish. A word.

A single baby like a dream, perfect in every way. There wasn't a hint of red in their child's hair, simply lilac and white. Beautiful. Wonderful. Slightly wavy, like Camilla's, but thick, like Selena's.

He didn't cry, and Leo found himself wondering if that was some infant means of deception. Soleil and Ophelia didn't cry, and they proved significantly more of a handful than any of their siblings.

(It didn't mean they were terrible children, just that they needed extra supervision.)

* * *

It happened quickly.

When he saw Selena mere weeks after the magic, there were strands of white-pink in her long, long ponytails. Previous times she had bags under her eyes from her son's infant antics. The white was new, wasn't it?

(He wouldn't have noticed white in Niles' hair, but he didn't think he'd seen any in Odin's.)

She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow, put a hand on her hip, and glared, all the while careful to cradle her son.

Stress, perhaps. He opted not to mention it and asked if there was anything he could do to help her and Camilla.

* * *

It happens all at once.

Leo goes to sleep and Odin's hair is blonde.

When he wakes up, it's brown.

At first he doesn't see anything unusual with that. He's seen that shade of brown before, and he's run his fingers through it. Massaged shampoo into it, washed it clean, dried it, gently, with a soft towel. He's had that hair cradled against his chest, and struggled to disentangle dried food from it. Then grogginess is banished and he realizes why it's wrong: he's seen that shade on _Ophelia_ , not Odin.

Odin's hair is _brown_.

"Is this magic?" Leo wonders as he wakes his husbands. Then he stops, recalling what Odin said.

_My hair was darker when I was young._

By the looks of it, Odin's hair was quite a bit darker.

"It isn't magic. Rather, it's the absence of it." Odin has the decency to look sheepish, rubbing his eyes as he yawns into a mirror and Niles looks like he's about to point and wake the whole castle with triumphant crowing. "I was wondering if it would wear off."

**Author's Note:**

> Chrom!Inigo = Blue  
> Lon'qu!Owain = Brown  
> Henry!Severa = White
> 
> Inigo and Lucina are twins.  
> Made up a child for Camilla and Selena.  
> The magic wore off slowly at first, then all at once.
> 
> Inspiration credit: [ObscureReference](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/post/177699491375) and [her anon(s)](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/post/181729598375).


End file.
